OK I'll TRY to make this short. (yeah right)
Myself and a close friend of mine are each small business owners. I'm into the A/V etc. He's into the security end of things ...

We both do a lot of types of work, and we both have plenty to share with each other as far as experience goes. Even though were both young in business terms. We have had the chance to meet others in the business at various times, and would like to continue to do so. Locally and informally.

What are we trying to accomplish? Nothing. (major) For a change. Are lives are too damn structured as it is. We learn a lot from each other just shooting the shi* and having a pizza. We would like the chance to meet and hang out with other like minded individuals maybe once a month. I don't want to turn this into a big thing. There is enough of that.

We are simple. No dues, no obligation, and no tie. Well, you know what I'm talking about. We can learn a lot from each other just by hanging out. We already know we like to talk about the business more than our friends... So. what the hell. If we have a good time and end up learning about products, marketing, employee issues, and find a better price on Commercial insurance while we are at it. Then What the hell.. We are about 31-41 years old I think. Doesn't matter to us if your 25-75.
If you are gonna hang out with us be prepared do a lot of hard laughing. And I swear I'm gonna golf this year so you might have to work that into your schedule too. Hell we'll play pinball if you want.

Do you see where this is going? "Honey... I can't this Thursday because I have my monthly meeting" We want this to be as pleasant as possible. We didn't do all of this hard work for the pain of it all.

Don't get the wrong Idea. This is not intended to be all fun and games, but if you make a friend or two in the process. Oh well, and if you don't? Well, that shouldn't be a big problem.

Where to meet? I'm picturing a group of 5 or 10 that can meet at a different local eatery each month for a few hours. Anything beyond that is optional. Just like showing up. I can email the date/time / place that we agree upon, and you can RSVP. It there are 3 of us. We can have a small table. If there are 15 we can take one or two spots.. Do you really care. The Idea is to let the conversation flow like the beverages. We are not big shots and don't care if you are. So if your sales are in the thousands or millions with 2 or 200 employees we don't care. This is not a cable measuring contest. What does matter is that you like what your doing. Even if you ask yourself why oh why each day!.. lol A sort of support group.

It would be cool to add to the list of people you can call on when you have a question, and it would be a nice place to do so.

If you are in the business of managing or running a business, then you should come hang out with us.

Who might be interested? E-mail me. [email protected]

Does anybody else meet like this? How has it been? Any input here will be discussed over a beer. And I won't even say what else we might discuss..

This message was edited by Jay In Chicago on 03/06/02 18:33.18.